College of Pharmacy welcomes Class of 2030 with White Coat ceremony
The College of Pharmacy welcomed 56 incoming students as part of the Class of 2030 with a White Coat ceremony on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. The ceremony capped off a week of orientation for the new students, as they formally received their white coats as an official welcome to the profession of pharmacy.
“As pharmacy students, you will provide essential care through your work in community,” said NEOMED President John T. Langell, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., FACS. “Pharmacists are considered the first line of defense in healthcare for patients.”
“You can do many things with a pharmacy degree, but at its core you are being trained to be a healer,” Michael D. Hogue, Pharm.D., FAPhA, FNAP, FFIP, executive vice president and chief executive officer, American Pharmacists Association, said in the keynote speech. “And our society needs you to be a healer. That means that you may need to stand up and step in for yourself and stand up and step in for your patients.”
Second-year pharmacy students Kayla Harland, Alexia Howell, Vuk Ignjatovic and Timothy Pappagallo Jr. welcomed the incoming class as Coaters. The Coaters place the white coats on the first-year students at the ceremony. It is an honorary position, as Coaters are chosen by their classmates as individuals who represent the College and profession in a positive manner.
To the first-year students, Katherine Tromp, Pharm.D., dean of the College of Pharmacy, said, “We have selected you to be a member of the Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Pharmacy’s Class of 2030 because we are confident that you share our values and our commitment to the profession. We look forward to providing you with the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to reach the highest standards of the profession.”
